In this file photo, a pair of baby warthogs are pictured on their first day out at the Detroit Zoo. Small animals from the zoo will be coming to Macomb County, which will be home to a Great Lakes Nature Center.
FILE PHOTO

Members of the Detroit Zoological Society and Macomb County officials are expected to announce plans for a new Great Lakes Nature Center Tuesday morning.

Top executives from the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak will gather in the atrium of the Macomb County Administration building in Mount Clemens to announce the “major development.”

“It’s a big deal,” County Executive Mark Hackel said Monday. “We’ve been waiting for something like this for quite a while.”

Details of the project were not released, but officials familiar with the plan said the location has yet to be determined. Three Macomb County sites are under consideration.

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Patricia Janeway, a spokeswoman for the zoo, said additional information on the project will be released at Tuesday’s unveiling.

The center will focus on various educational and environmental aspects of the Great Lakes and will have a number of aquatic features, including live displays of various fish and wildlife.

In addition to Hackel, others attending the announcement will be Ron Kagan, executive director of the zoo; Lloyd Semple, chairman of the Detroit Zoological Society’s Board of Directors; and Candice Miller, the county’s Public Works commissioner who will attend in her role as a zoological board member, according to Dan Heaton, media relations director for the public works office.

“This is going to be a substantial development,” Heaton said of the planned project.

The Detroit Zoo also operates the Belle Isle Nature Center on Belle Isle State Park in Detroit. Features at the center include a bird observation window, a deer corral, It also offers educational information about conservation, water quality and fauna species.

A key question, in addition to its location, is how the project will be financed.

Since 2008, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne voters have approved a millage to supplement the zoo, which operates on a $35 million budget and has 400 employees, according to the zoo’s website. For a homeowner whose home is worth $200,000, the cost is about $10 a year.

Attendance has been on the uptick in the years following the millage plan. The Detroit Zoo experienced its second-highest attendance ever in 2017, attracting 1.5 million visitors, the zoo’s website reports.